A Celebration!

Halloween is celebrated on October 31 in most parts of the US, UK and Northern Europe. It marks the beginning of winter, the 'dark' season. A multicultural festival, it incorporates the ancient Celtic New Year festival and festival of the dead (Samhain), pre-thanksgiving harvest celebrations and All Saints' and All Souls' Days. Nov 1 as All Saints' Day was called Allhallow-mass and the evening before All Saints' Day came to be known as All Hallow's Eve, or All Halloween. It is also the Roman Day of the apple or Pomona Day. Children masquerading as ghosts and witches, going door-to-door, shouting 'Trick or treat', demanding to be either treated to goodies or threatened to subject the householder to 'tricks'. The Druids, the Celtic priests, would oversee the extinguishing of all home cooking fires on October 31 once the crops were harvested and stored for the long winter. Meeting in the dark in oak forests, the Druids would light new fires and dance around them offering sacrifices of grain and livestock. At daybreak, new cooking fires would start and ward off evil spirits. Jack-o'-lantern pumpkins, scarecrows made of corn stalks and hay, handcrafted ghosts, skeletons and witches and giant spiders adorn the homes as children enjoy frightening adults and one another with the scary masks and costumes; only to reveal their smiling faces.

All Saints Day

The origin of All Saints reflects back to A.D. 610 when Emperor Phocas gave the Roman temple called the Pantheon to Pope as a Church. Pope rededicated to Virgin Mary and Christian martyrs. Pope dedicated St. Peter’s church in 700s on 1^st November. This celebration may have fixed the date for ‘All Saints Day’ It honors all Christian saints especially those without days named after them. Halloween takes its name from All Saints’ Day because October 31 was called ‘All Hallow Eve’ Eve of the holy ones’ day.

All Souls Day

It is celebrated on 2^nd November. Like ‘Shraddha’ in Hindu religion, All Souls Day is observed all over the other parts of the world to remember the forefathers and beloved ones who have departed and these souls are blessed for heavenly peace. Christians observe this religion extensively all over the world.

In Hindu Religion, the Shraddha is performed for 15 days before the Navratri Festival. During the 15 days, people remember their dead parents and forefathers. People cook best food along with Kheer (milk and rice with sugar) and all the recipes that their loved ones liked. A mix of Kheer and cooked food is put on terrace for the crows to come who eat this. It is believed that this is in part offer to the loved ones who are no more. Thus, memories come alive of family members who no longer exist. 

FIERY NIGHTS OR MOONLIT SKIES?

Mystifying Myth! On the trail of Demon dogs….

Ever heard of Dogs barking in the nights? Ever seen a horror movie with a back dog? It has gripped you with fear of a death of a holy soul. It is a mystifying myth, which started with the folklore tales of many ancient pathways that are haunted with demon black dogs. These dogs seem to patrol ‘green lanes’ ancient grassed over roads that were boundaries to churches or country estates. These canines often disappear into bungalow, bridge or gateway or in the dark, a transition between mortal world and supernatural one. They are said to haunt the churchyards, graveyards, lonely streets. Myth says that it has been an ancient practice of burying a sacrificed dog to guard a new graveyard! These dogs has different names like Trash, Padfoot, Dhoo, Moddey, Black Shuck etc. with blazing eyes, calf sized, dark and shaggy. In 1800s a man called Finch, Neatishead in Norfolk was once walking along a green lane when he mistool Black shuck for a family friend’s dog that had snapped him. He aimed a kick at it and his foot went straight through the phantom. On August 4, 1557, during a terrible storm, a black dog visited St. Mary’s church in Suffolk who wrung the neck of two parishioners and left a third one scratched almost to death. Even at Blythburg, it killed three people. It is believed that the claw marks of this dog are still seen at the door of the church. Some say the Black dog is the ghost of prehistoric hound set to guard holy sites and wayside shrines common on roads all over the world. Others says it is the devil himself, perhaps looking for solitary and vulnerable travelers. It is said that when someone is dying ‘Black dog’ is at heels because it is the demon. Whatever be it, people believe these myths and whenever a dog cries especially during a winter night, it is a death of some soul.

Werewolves

There is a belief that some humans have been transformed into werewolves is as ancient as people’s fear of the wild. During witch craze of sixteenth century, female witches were said to ride on wolves and male witches to change or shape shift, into wolves when attacking people and animals. On a full moon, anyone bitten by the werewolf will turn into a werewolf on the next full moon! He is cursed and changed to kill. Human change to ravening wolves is a myth, which also provided inspiration for many horror movies like 1981’s American Werewolf. It is also said that turning into a wolf is like abnormal mental condition. Afflicted people howl, frequent graveyards and crave human flesh. They are said to be psychotic serial killers. In 1692, an 80-year-old peasant named Thiess told the judges of Jurgensburg, Livonia in Russia, that three times a year he turned into a wolf. It was his destiny announced at his birth, to change into an animal and fight on behalf of his people. It is a myth that he joined other werewolves on a journey to hell to fight with devils over the harvest for the coming year. These werewolves are active during twelve nights after Christmas when the dead were supposed to roam the earth. In South America, it is were-jaguars, in Africa, it is leopards, were-hyenas and even were-crocodiles; in India it is were-tigers, and in Japan were-foxes and were-badgers.

Vampires

Vampires, the bloodsuckers are immortal and come out at night because of the myth that the sun can burn them to ashes. Stories of Vampires have inspired both novels and movies. One can vision Christopher Lee as ‘Dracula’ a bloodsucker, elegant creature who pursued young women. According to folklore, the vampire - a living corpse, drinks blood not only to drain the vitality of the living and spread infection, but also to be reanimated. The belief that Vampire spread epidemics existed as early as twelfth century. People used garlic to ward off vampire. Its smell was also said to disper the odour of corpses and prevents them from spreading disease. It is believed that vampires can be killed with a silver bullet and routed with a crucifix. Sinners, suicides, sorcerers and alcoholics are thought particularly likely to become Vampires. Children born with teeth, murdered victims or corpses not given burial turn to be vampires. It is said Vampires rise from the grave to force their attention on terrified wives and husbands. Unmarried vampires visit young opposite sex. Vampires die but live again - Blood sucking vampires are legends of history and movies.